Fast Pace of Funding is New USAC Record

As of May 11, 2018, more than $750 million has been committed for funding year 2018. This is the earliest that this amount of funding has been committed in the history of the E-rate program. There have only been two other funding years in which $750 million was committed prior to the July 1 start of the year. FY2014 crossed the $750M line on May 29, 2014. FY2000 crossed the $750M line on June 23, 2000.

Also noteworthy is the number of applicants who have received a decision letter. As of May 11, 2018, there were 15,595 applicants who had received a FY2018 funding commitment. This is about average for the number of applicants who have received decision letters by the time $750 million in funding commitments have been issued.

It is important to consider both the amount of funds committed, as well as the number of applicants benefiting from those funds. If USAC were to only fund a handful of large applications, a significant amount of funding could be committed, but to only a few beneficiaries. Fortunately, in 2018, USAC has managed to fund nearly 16,000 applicants a total of more than $750 million in a record amount of time.

The following chart illustrates the date at which the $750 million milestone was reached and the number of applicants who were impacted. Funding commitments before July 1 are important because it allows schools and libraries to select vendor discounted invoices for their recurring services.

Applicants are encouraged to take this survey to share their thoughts about the USAC application review process. Results will be submitted to the FCC.